Events promote cruise week cause

Travel agents around the UK are offering a range of events to drum up business for National Cruise Week, in a move that could encourage more people to seek out
cruise travel insurance.

National Cruise Week began last Saturday and organisers hope events, such as in-store afternoon tea, will spark a surge of bookings. The Association of Cruise Experts (ACE) revealed it had dispatched around 400 afternoon tea packs to agents planning to stage an event this week, while Discover Cruises listed 120 alternative events on its website. Cruise line operators are also getting in on the act, with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises all offering a minimum of $100 in onboard credit for any stateroom booking with a balcony on any European sailings, excluding Celebrity Eclipse, next year.

MSC Cruises is going one better by offering free onboard credit for any 2013 booking made this week, while All Discovery Cruising hopes to lure new custom by the offer of up to £100-worth of free wins for bookings made through any of its three brands - Voyages of Discovery, Swan Hellenic and Hebridean Island Cruises.